Belt-hook.



I). T. GRAHAM.

BELT HOOK.

APPLICATION FILED JUNBIB, 1911.

1,031,179. Patented July 2,1912.

WITNESSES: I C Q l zv z vgo 1 By I I flomey COLUMBIA I'LANOGHAI'II cu. WAMIINGTON. I). C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DAVID T. GRAHAM, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR TO COLUMBIA NOVELTY MFG.

' 00., OF ST. LOUIS, -MISSOURI.

BELT-HOOK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed June 15, 1911. Serial No. 633,268.

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that 1, DAVID T. GRAHAM, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Belt-Hooks; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to belt hooks employed at the meeting edges or joints of a belt.

An object of the invention is' to provide a belt hook having three teeth or spurs on each end of a connecting body, the spurs being staggered or zigzag in relation to each other, each projecting or long spur being opposite the short spur on the opposite end of the connecting body.

Another object is to provide a hook of this type, formed so that by reversing every second hook, a continuous zigzag arrangement of spurs on each side of the joint is produced.

Another object is to provide a form of hook of the above stated character, which may be manufactured from narrow widths of steel, the width of the steel only equaling the width of the back of the hook, with out a particle of waste of material.

Another object is to produce a form of hook which may be manufactured with one operation of the machine, thus eliminating the usual four or more manual operations heretofore required in trimming oft the waste, cutting into three point lengths, forming, etc.

Another object is to provide a hook having two long spurs and one short spur de pending from one end and two short spurs and one long spur depending from the opposite end, eachshort spur being opp s te a long spur-on the opposite end of the hook. this one form'of hook serving to take tht place of two separate forms of hooks heretofore employed at a belt joint to produce a zigzagarrangement of spurs to either side I ofthe joint, across the width of the belt.

A further object is to produce a belt hook of the above stated character having a more solid and substantial connecting body than any belt hook heretofore produced by this method of cutting without waste, thus 1ncreasing the strength of the connecting body and permitting the use of a lighter gage of material, reducing the cost of production and making a stronger connection at the joint, owing to the fact that the lighter material when embedded in the surface of the belt does not injure the fiber of the belt, as do the spurs of the hooks made from heavier material, and, a still further object is to devise a form of hook of the above stated character, which may be producedby feeding the strip of material straight, while the punch and dies out at an angle to the edge of the strip being fed thereto.

Other objects and advantages will be hereinafter set forth and pointed out in the specification and claim.

In the accompanying drawings which are made a part of this application, Figure 1 is a perspective view of one of the hooks: Fig. 2 is a side view thereof, Fig. 3 is a plan view of two of the hooks in blank form, showing the manner in which they are stamped or punched from the strip without a particle of waste of material. Fig. 4'. is a fragmentary plan view of a joint of a belt, the meeting edges of the belt being secured together by my improved form of hook, clearly showing the staggered or zigzag arrangement of the prongs or spurs, produced by reversing every second hook, and, Fig. 5 shows a modified form of hook, the prongs or spurs being arranged the same as in the preferred form, but the side edges of the hook being straight.

In the construction of my invention I employ a continuous metal strip, which is fed straight througluwhile the punch and die are set at an angle so as to cutthe prongs or stubs 1 and 2 at an angle in relation to the side edges and grain of the strip of material. The prongs 1 and 2 extend from opposite ends of the body portion 3 of each hook, two short spurs (designated by the numeral 1), and one long spur (designated by the numeral 2), extend from one end, the long spur 2 being the central spur, while projecting from the other end of the hook are the two long spurs (designated by the numeral 2) and a short spur (designated by the numeral 1) positioned between the two long spurs 2. Thus it will be seen that there are three spurs projecting from each end of the finished hook, cachlong spur being opposite a short spur projecting Patented July 2,1912.

from the opposite end of the hook. The purpose of this arrangement of spurs will presently be more fully described.

It will be seen that part of each side edge 4: of each hookis produced by the die and punch when cutting the outer edges of the side prongs, while the edges of the strip of material constitute the remainder of each side 4:. Thus it will be seen that the sides 1 are not straight, but are directed toward the points of the opposite side spurs. By cutting the points of the prongs or spurs land 2 of each hook, the apices of the prongs of the adjacenthooks are formed. By constructing the hooks in this manner no material whatever is wasted, as there is no material left between the hooks, the prongs or spurs 1 and 2 of the adjacent hooks being formed with the one operation. It will be noted that the central prongs of each hook, or the central inside prong of one end and the central out-side prong of the opposite end, are shorter and longer, respectively, than the prongs to the opposlte sides thereof.

The short prongs 1 are bent downwardly at right angles to the connecting body portion 3, near the latter, while the long prongs 2 are bent downwardly at right angles to the body portion at a point slightly farther from the body portion 3 than the point at which the short prongs 1 are bent, thus the necessity of the long prongs 2 being longer than the short prongs 1. By constructing this hook in the just described manner, a lighter material may be used and the hooks may be formed without any waste of material whatever. The use of lighter material is especially desirable, as when the hooks are formed of light material, the prongs or spurs will not injure the fibers of the belt, through which they pass, as do the prongs of the hooks made of heavy material.

In use the hooks are placed so as to straddle the joint or meeting ends of the belt, as shown in Fig. 4. The first hook is placed with the endhaving the two long prongs 2 and the one short prong 1 upon one side of the joint, while the end carrying the two short prongs 1 and the one long prong 2 is upon the opposite side of the joint. The next hook is reversed so as to position the end having the two short prongs and the one long prong upon the same side of the joint as the opposite end of the first hook; while the end of the second hook having the two long prongs and one short prong is upon the same side of the joint as the end of the first hook carrying the two short prongs and one long prong. The next hook is placed in thesame position as the first hook, but to the opposite side of the second hook, the fourth hook the same as the second, etc; By positioning the hooks in this manner a continuous zigzag or staggered arrangement of the prongs is produced upon both sides of the joint, giving greater strength at this I point. It is true that a zigzag or staggered arrangement of prongs upon either side of the joint is not in itself new, but in order to produce this arrangement it has been necessary heretofore to employ two separate and distinct forms of hook, using the forms alternately. With this new form, the same result may be obtained at a much reduced cost, on account of the manufacture and use of only one form of hook, produced without waste of material, being necessary.

On account of the varying lengths of the spurs and the arrangement of the same, the

points thereof, after the prongs are properly bent, are each the same distance from the bent portions of the prongs, thus assuring the prongs penetrating or traveling clear through the ends of the belt or other material to be secured together in order that they may be properly clenched'upon the under side of the material to prevent the hooks from working out of place.

In Fig. 5 is shown a detail View of a modified form of hook, the prongs or spurs thereof being cut or punched longitudinally of the strip of material from which the hooks are formed, the side edges of the material constituting the side edges of the separate hooks. In this modified form the central spur of one end of each hook is the short spur, while the central spur on the opposite side of the connecting body portion 3 is the long spur. In the production of. this modified form, however, there is necessarily a slight waste of material, as will be understood. The arrangement and bending of the prongs or spurs 1 and 2 is the same as in the preferred form. This form is also used in the same manner as the preferred form, every second hook being reversed to produce a continuous zigzag or staggered arrangement of prongs upon either side of the abutting ends. or edges of the material to be joined together.

It will be understood that any number of the hooks may be employed at each joint, the hooks being positioned adjacent one another, but the distance therebetween and the number of hooks employed being left to the judgment of the user.

It will be seen that this hook may be produced at an extremely low figure and does not require four or five manual operations in finishing the articles after they are out from the strip material, as is now necessary in producing the present forms in general use, thus eliminating the operations heretofore necessary in trimming off the waste, cut- 125 ting into three point length, forming, etc.

It will thus be seen that I have provided a belt hook of extremely simple formation and one which may be produced without waste of material and which will be effective 130 in use and take the place of the heretofore required two forms of hooks.

It will be seen that owing to the angle at which the prongs or spurs are cut or punched in relation to the connecting body portion 3, the latter is given greater strength than the old style of hooks composed of like material.

It is evident that this hook may be employed for various purposes such as joining the ends of a belt and will be extremely effective in use, all danger of the prongs injuring the fiber of the material through which they pass being eliminated. The number of prongs may be varied, but I prefer to provide three prongs upon each end of the body portion 3 of the hook, two short prongs and one long prong upon one end and two long prongs and one short prong upon the opposite end.

What I claim is:

A belt fastener out from a strip of metal, said fastener having three oppositely disposed prongs at each end, the outer prongs at one end of the fastener being longer than the middle prong, while the outer prongs at the other end are shorter than the middle prong, whereby the entire strip may be utilized in forming said fastenerswithoutwaste of material, all prongs on said fastener being bent in the same direction and at equal distances from their respective points.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

DAVID T. GRAHAM.

Witnesses:

MARY E. Sonmssmm, Loursn GERMANN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. V 

